Page 3 of A Cosy Christmas with the Village Vet

Brogan felt the pull of another yawn. She flopped down onto the stick-back chair, adjusting its squishy cushion, and cast her gaze around the room. Evidence of the cottage’s seventeenth century origins was everywhere, from the deep, squat stone mullioned windows, and the sandstone inglenook fireplace that housed the Aga, to the chunky, age-darkened beams supporting wide elm floorboards, and quarry tiles, worn smooth by centuries of feet passing over them. The uneven walls were a couple of feet thick in places, except for the flimsy porch which was a later addition and looked like it was ready to be blown down by the next gust of wind that hit the moors. Though the décor rocked a tired nineteen-eighties vibe with an abundance of floral patterns everywhere – just as her grandparents had left it after they’d passed away – the cottage oozed potential and Brogan loved the place. She knew she’d have to update it at some point, but she couldn’t contemplate that right now. The décor of the cottage made her feel as though her grandparents were still with her which she found comforting. Changing it would feel like she was erasing their memory. And, right now, that was the last thing she wanted.

Besides, there were other things to occupy her mind today, like getting ready for her new job. She glanced up at the clock on the wall.Yikes!Time to get cracking. The nerves in her stomach leapt to attention and gave another wriggle.

4

NICK

‘There they are.’ Nick’s eyes landed on a glint of something that looked promisingly like his bunch of keys. They were almost hidden from view by a precarious stack of mugs by the draining board. ‘What are they doing behind that lot? I don’t remember leaving the flaming things there,’ he said under his breath. ‘I reckon you must’ve moved them, Maudie.’

Maudie blinked at him, unamused.

‘Yeah, sorry, not funny.’ He stooped to ruffle her ears just as his mobile phone rang from somewhere over by the kettle.

He loped across and scooped it up, the number flashing on the display sending a surge of mixed emotions through him. None of them good. Loretta.Oh, jeez.His heart plummeted. He didn’t need this right now. He knew what she was going to say. Knew that she’d be annoyed.Ughh.Scraping his teeth over his bottom lip, he toyed with the notion of ignoring the call, quickly deciding against it. She’d been on at him every day since he’d moved in here, leaving a slew of increasingly irate voicemails. Last night’s sprang to mind and he winced; she’d been particularly scathing. No, it’d be better to get the earbashing out of the way. ‘Right, here goes, Maudie. Wish me luck.’ Nick breathed out a sigh and swiped the screen to answer the call. ‘Loretta. To what do I owe this pleasure?’ His heart was hammering.

Maudie looked on with interest. She’d never liked Loretta; or so Loretta would have Nick believe.

‘Nick!’ Loretta sounded exasperated. ‘Why don’t you ever answer my bloody calls?’

‘I’ve been b—’

‘You still haven’t done it. Honestly! How hard can it be to get a pair of shoes back to me? It’s not like I’m asking you to traipse half-way across the country with them; Arkleby must only be about ten miles away from Middleton-le-Moors. Anyone would think you were being deliberately difficult.’ Nick winced at her icy tone. He’d put money on it being frostier than the weather outside.

Pushing away the sadness hearing her voice had triggered, and hoping she hadn’t detected it, he said, ‘I know. I’m sorry. I promise you, I’m not being difficult, it’s just been a bit hectic, what with me moving house and—’

‘I could always come and get them myself. It’s not as if I haven’t offered.’

Panic surged through him. The last thing he needed was for Loretta to see the pitiful place he’d moved to; to regard him as being down on his luck. He wasn’t ready to deal with her criticism or her pity or worse, see her take pleasure from it. ‘There’s really no need for that, Loretta. My cottage is a pain to find. I’ll drop them off, but—’

‘Just do it, Nick, preferably tonight. I’m not asking a lot of you; I just want you to return my shoes, okay?’ Her voice was laced with irritation.

Return them!‘Loretta, I didn’t take them. You were the one who put them in a box of my stuff and left them piled up outside the house. I didn’t even know they were there ’til you told m—’

‘It was a mistake! Okay? I didn’t deliberately put them in the wrong storage box; I must’ve picked them up by accident when I was… getting your stuff ready.’ Her voice tailed off.

‘You mean when you were packing my stuff up, neatly removing me from your life?’ he said, not caring that he sounded bitter.

‘It wasn’t like that. I was helping you; making it easier.’

Easier? Who was she kidding?Nothing about leaving the home he’d shared with the woman he’d expected to spend the rest of his life with had been easy. In fact, he’d go as far as to say it had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. ‘Easier for who exactly?’

Ignoring his question she steamed on. ‘Anyway, I need them; I’m at a party this weekend and I don’t want to have to go traipsing around the shops hunting for a new pair this close to Christmas.’ She paused, releasing a noisy sigh. ‘Just drop them off here, Nick. Today. There’s no need for all this fuss. And there’s no need to knock, just leave them in the porch. That way we don’t have to see each… well… just in case I’m not in.’

Her words landed like a blow to the chest. She didn’t even want to see him, didn’t want to speak to him face-to-face. But what hurt even more was that he knew why Loretta needed the shoes. She was having a weekend away withhim.Aaron; the bloke who’d been his best mate until he suddenly decided to relieve Nick of his fiancée. They’d be at Aaron’s company’s Christmas party at some fancy hotel in the Lake District and she’d want to show off her expensive designer shoes. No doubt she’d be wearing them with the clingy, sparkly dress she’d bought last month, the one she’d told him was for a girls’ night out. Nick had had his doubts at the time, but hadn’t said anything. More fool him. And to rub salt into the wound, she wanted Nick to leave the shoes at the house he’d, nothey’d,called home until recently. The home he still jointly owned with her. Didn’t she realise how hard that would be for him? How much it would hurt? It was as if she had no conscience; that she didn’t care what she asked of him as long as she got what she wanted.

‘Nick! Nick!’ Loretta huffed out an impatient breath. ‘Why aren’t you answering me? I don’t have time for this; I need to go. Just tell me you’ll drop them off ASAP.’

The sharp tone of her voice pulled him back to the conversation. ‘Yeah, don’t worry; I’ll make sure you have them in time.’ He gave a weary sigh.

‘Good. Be sure you do.’

Before he could reply, the line went dead.

Nick stared at his phone, myriad thoughts running through his mind. He still couldn’t believe they’d come to this.

Sensing things weren’t right, Maudie ran across to him, nudging his leg with her head and giving a little whimper. He couldn’t help but smile. ‘Ahh, at least I’ve got you, eh, girl?’ He crouched down and she pushed her head onto his shoulder, her tail wagging as he ran his hand over her back. She knew when she needed to show her softer side.

Feeling his mood lift, Nick gave Maudie one last ear ruffle before pushing himself up. ‘Right then, Maudie. Keys. Where did I see them? Ah, yep, over there.’ He strode over to the draining board and scooped his keys up before heading back into the hallway and the obstacle course of boxes. As he squeezed around them, he wondered if it was one of these that contained Loretta’s precious shoes.

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